The Spirit Of Nasa

OPINION

Our Position: The Successful Mars Mission Is Rekindling Excitement About The Space Agency.

January 8, 2004|By Sage

The successful landing on Mars of the NASA probe Spirit is a triumph for America's space agency. Two-thirds of humankind's previous missions to the planet have failed, including a Japanese spacecraft just last month.

Spirit has captivated the world since Sunday by sending back spectacular photographs of the Martian surface. NASA's Web site has received a billion hits in recent days, a telltale sign of the extraordinary interest in the mission.

NASA still must correct serious shortcomings in its safety culture before resuming manned missions of the space shuttle, grounded since the Columbia disaster almost a year ago.

But the excitement over Spirit suggests that millions of fans of the U.S. space program, at home and abroad, are rooting for the agency.